(F. Dewar) this is the capital town of the Central Province and Berar and of the Nagpur Division and District, lying between 2109’ N. and 7907’ E. it is 520 miles from Bombay and 701 miles from Calcutta at the junction of the Great Indian Peninsula and the Bengal-Nagpur Railways. It is 225 miles from Jubbulpore by rail, 45 miles from Allahabad, and 564 miles from Cawnpore. Hyderabad, Deccan, is 318 miles distant by road. The foot hills of the Satpura range are 25 miles to the north and the city stands in comparatively level country on the banks of the small Nag river from which it has taken its name. the site is low but well sloped, and to the west and north there are ridges of sleep basaltic rock. The area of the city propel and of the civil station has of late ears constantly increased and it is now about to square miles.

The modern town first gathered about the ancient fort of the Gond Rajas. A hundred years ago it was a collection of small hamlets scattered over a fertile plain, but is has long been an overcrowded and spreading mass of habitation. In 1872 the population numbered 84, 441 in 1881, 98, 299, in 1891, 117, 014 and in 1901, 127, 734. Since last census the city has lost over 20,000 inhabitants from plague alone, but if we may judge from the spread of building and the demand for house accommodation, its present population is not less than 140,000. In 1901 Parsis and 3749 Christians, of whom 1780 were Europeans and Eurasians. It is difficult to estimate the proportionate increase of the Hindu and Muhammadan populations, both of which have suffered severely from plague, but the Parsi colony has greatly increased owing to the development of the cotton industry and the opening of manganese mines, and the addition of the Berar Districts to the Central Provinces has added to the European and Eurasian communities.